Flintern Spotlight: Emma Rehder
By Lydia Picotte, Creative Writing Intern – Flint Group
Emma Rehder likes weird stuff. Her current obsession – photographer Nadia Cohen’s latest shoot with Madonna, which features the star splayed across a living room from another decade, surrounded by bodies – certainly qualifies. And this only scratches the surface of her eclectic and ever-growing list of media favorites. But the funky inspirations of Flint’s photo and video intern (in her words, “weird and off-putting”), are more than an interesting conversation starter. They’re a creative compass, and a clear look into the mind of a forward-thinking artist brimming with big visions for her future.
Rehder’s creative pursuits first turned serious when she picked up photography in high school, organizing shoots with her friends and local customers. Beyond taking photos, she also began experimenting with collages and photo weaving.
Now, she’s a rising senior at North Dakota State University, earning her BFA in studio art and photography.
She describes her favorite work as nostalgic, vintage and hyperfeminine. She’s inspired by art history movements like surrealism and loves the bright colors of the 80s. Magazines and movies are another constant source of influence.
In February, she attended the district level of the American Advertising Awards in Fargo where a poster campaign she’d worked on alongside Tyler Halstenson, Flint’s Creative Design intern, took home first place. At the event, she ran into a Flint art director, who recommended she apply at the agency.
She has no regrets. Flint has placed her into the heart of the professional world, an environment that can’t be replicated in school.
“When I started photography, I just was having fun doing it,” Rehder says. “There was no pressure to be correct. Now, learning video in studio; it feels like a test. There’s more of a right answer. So the stakes are different.”
Despite her extensive photo experience, video was a relative novelty for her at the beginning of the summer. That didn’t last long. Rehder and fellow video intern Bridget Packer were immediately put to work on set. Surrounded by Flint’s production team and state-of-the-art equipment, catching on fast was inevitable.
“It’s made me even more open to learning,” she says. “Not that I’m not open to learning, but when I come here, it feels like I’m at school. I’m just here to learn a bunch. That’s the best thing that I’ve gained while being in studio.”
It has also reshaped how she sees her own career unfolding, by showing her just how many options she has.
“For a while, I said I wanted to be an art director,” she says. “Art directors work more with set design. Now being on set, I kind of just want to be a director. I want to do what they do.”
As she’s reevaluated her future, what hasn’t changed about Rehder is her search for more. She’s never without a creative vision waiting to be realized and always searching for a team to help her execute.
Most recently, this meant working as a creative director for NDSU’s spring student fashion show. Her concepting and photography guided the aesthetics of the floral exhibition that showcased clothes from local businesses and student designers.
“We created a whole world around it and did a photo shoot in the flower section of Hobby Lobby,” Rehder says. “We also created this flower display for the back of the show using the big paper flowers from West Acres, which was so cool. I think that was one of the biggest, best things I’ve ever done.”
By combining her newfound technical skills with her unique personal style, she hopes to further expand her creative reach. She dreams of one day directing large editorial shoots and working with the artists and brands that inspire her work. For better and weirder, she’s positioned herself on a launchpad, ready to blast towards her future as a photographer, advertiser, director and artist.
